Many industries have undergone rapid changes over the past few years. There have been a variety of factors contributing to these quick-paced changes, but one of the major influences was the onset of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. From the restaurant and hospitality industries to the world of office-work, nearly every single industry underwent a massive shift in the past few years. The main themes in this shift involved a move toward remote operations and services, in addition to an emphasis on consumer convenience, all powered through technology.
Technology and information have played key roles in this societal transition in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Communication and video conferencing technologies allowed business-to-business companies to conduct client-calls, and host meetings without needing to be in the same room, or even at the office at all. Instant messaging communication platforms that facilitate internal collaboration like Slack were also already a popular business tool that enhanced and enabled remote operations, collaboration, and teamwork.
The restaurant and service industries also saw a major impact from the pandemic. While alcohol delivery services were already seldom available in populated regions to try and help keep drunk drivers off the road when they needed to restock for a party, these types of services saw an unprecedented and exponential growth and have since fundamentally changed the industry.
The Rise of Consumer Convenience
The growing popularity of alcohol delivery services coincides with the emergence of consumer convenience as a growing trend. Year after year, convenience is becoming a more important factor in the consumer experience. The ability to have alcohol delivers aligns perfectly with the values of the modern consumer. This has been partially attributed to the effect that growing up with social media, the internet, and smart technology have had on digital natives.
Social media specifically has been associated with the growing need and desire for instant gratification. This has to do with the psychology behind seeing a notification and how that releases dopamine in the brain, and also trains the brain to expect immediate and short-term rewards. This effect is then further exasperated when there is little effort put into the content receiving those notifications,
Beyond social media psychology, though, alcohol delivery is an easy and effective way for consumers to restock the fridge from the comfort of their homes.
The Origins of Alcohol Delivery
As mentioned above, prior to the pandemic, some services were already dabbling in alcohol delivery. Go Puff, for example, was one of the first services to offer alcohol delivery, and was mainly available to residents of major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, New York, and California. However, the trend quickly caught on as other delivery services like Uber Eats swiftly joined the marketplace.
Then, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many laws loosened their restrictions on alcohol delivery, which opened up the marketplace even further. Now, only 7 states ban the delivery of alcohol entirely. Many people during the pandemic took up day-drinking as a bit of a habit though, which had some interesting ripple effects on the consumer drinking patterns in general.
The ordering habits are interesting to look into as well. For example, wine delivery accounts for nearly 60% of the alcohol delivery service industry, hard liquor holds its own at around 20% and beer comes in at just over 10%.
Bringing the Booze to You
The most obvious way in which alcohol delivery services are changing the industry is in bringing the booze directly to the doorstep of the consumer. The path was paved when services like Uber Eats and GrubHub were already extremely popular among consumers prioritizing convenience, and made use of similar business models.
Now though, more and more drunk drivers are staying off the road when they’re running low at a party, or realize they need to refill before their guests arrive. This keeps the streets a lot safer, and the parties a lot smoother.
Alcohol Alternatives and the Sobriety Movement
Those interesting ripple effects that were mentioned earlier manifested in the way of a more present and prominent movement toward sobriety. After coping with the lock-down orders with a drink from time-to-time, or more like every day, many people took a step back and conducted some self-reflection.
Through this process, they realized that they were drinking a little too much and a little too often. This led to the aforementioned sobriety movement. This movement doesn’t have to mean giving up cocktails, beer, or wine entirely though. In fact, in this wake, many non-alcoholic craft cocktails, beers, and wines have been produced. Their popularity is continuing to grow as well.
Final Thoughts on Alcohol Delivery
Making alcohol delivery more accessible has completely changed the industry in a variety of ways. This is often the case when technology is embraced in new and innovative ways.